St. Mary’s 36, Tech 20: Spartans chew up yardage on the ground

LYNN – The St. Mary’s football team has a very bright future ahead of it judging by the performance the Spartans put on a drizzly Thanksgiving Eve against Lynn Tech.A team that has a boatload of talented underclassmen, the Spartans pounded a stout Tech defense for 255 yards, all on the ground, while holding the Tigers to 216 total yards en route to a 36-20 win at Manning Field on Wednesday.Click here to see a photo gallery from the St. Mary’s/Lynn Tech game.”On both sides of the ball, the effort was great,” St. Mary’s coach Matt Durgin said. “And we knew it needed to be to have success against a good Lynn Tech team. The offensive line played great and all the backs ran well.”The ringleader of those backs was sophomore Todd Collier, who carried 10 times for 102 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the Spartans rattled off 28 unanswered points after trailing 6-0 early in the second quarter.Fellow sophomore Nick Day added 65 yards and a touchdown while the defense kept Tiger running back Ryan Murphy contained for most of the night. Murphy finished with 124 yards and two touchdowns on his 22 carries, but he had to work for every yard.”St. Mary’s is a good football team,” Tech coach Gary Sverker said. “They have some great backs and their line did a good job against us.”Tech (7-4) got the ball and marched right down field to start the game, eating up nearly half the first quarter on the hard running of Murphy and Steven Caisse. But the St. Mary’s defense buckled down inside the 20 and turned the Tigers away on downs.After St. Mary’s shanked a punt following its first possession, the defense again came up huge as Tech drove inside the 30 but the Spartans knocked down a pair of Dustin Rooney passes to keep the game scoreless after one quarter.A St. Mary’s fumble on the second play of the second quarter opened the door for the Tigers to get the first touchdown of the night and they did when Pedro Martinez swept around right end and raced 40 yards unscathed for a 6-0 lead.The Spartans (7-4) got a 35 yard kick return from Nick Day and a personal foul penalty at the end of the play to move the ball ot the Tech 37. Four plays later, Collier went 18 yards off the right side to give St. Mary’s and 8-6 lead after Day’s conversion rush.Tech went three-and-out on the next possession and St. Mary’s took advantage, marching 62 yards in eight plays capped by a three-yard Day plunge and conversion run that made it 16-6 with 2:24 left in the half.Matt McDermott kept the momentum squarely in the corner of the Spartans moments later when he picked off a Rooney pass and returned it to the Tiger 37. Four plays later, Collier bolted 28 yards down the right sideline to give the Spartans a head spinning 22-6 lead at the half.”The consistent thing for us was our blocking,” Durgin said. “The O-Line was firing off the ball really well.”St. Mary’s got the ball to start the second half and would eat up almost half the quarter on a 10 play drive. But they came away empty as the Tigers held on downs at the 33.Moments later, however, the St. Mary’s defense delivered a knockout blow.McDermott stepped in front of another Rooney pass and took this interception 36 yards to the house to give St. Mary’s a commanding 28-6 lead.”Matty has played really well all year so it was nice to see him get that one,” Durgin said.The Tigers showed a little mettle and made it a two possession game again late in the third when Murphy capped a 41 yard drive with a two yard score that made it 28-12 after three.But the Spartans put the game away with 5:46 left when Cam Mulvey capped a 13 play, 45 yard drive with a one-yard sneak on fourth and goal to make it 36-12. Murphy closed the scoring with 2:54 left on a 13 yard run and a 2-point conversion rush.